#9 - JRL 7168
Rodnaya Gazeta
No. 2.
[translation from RIA Novosti for personal use only]RUSSIAN SOCIETY AT A CROSSROADS
Interview with William SMIRNOV, deputy head of a department at the Institute of
State and Law, Russian Academy of Sciences.
Mr. Smirnov believes that Vladimir Putin cannot remain a man of compromise

Question: Mr. Smirnov, during the latest elections, while voting for Mr.
Putin, Russian society had great hopes for the drastic changes for the better.
However, nowadays, many people maintain a different attitude: the reforms have
been announced, but in reality they are hardly noticeable...What do you think it
might mean?

Answer: So far, the reforms of the Federation, the state institutions,
justice and legal systems have barely touched everyday life of the majority of
the Russian population. Many Russians can hardly imagine the state of total
misbalance and chaos practically all power and control structures in Russia had
been in before the election of the new president, because all former leaders
tried to apply different philosophies of "minimal state control" and
total removal of the state from governing the economy.

The dire state of the Russian economy is a separate issue. I'd like to remind
you that Russia's GDP during 10 peaceful years has dropped by one-third compared
with 1990. At the same time, the industrial and agricultural output decreased
almost by half. Instead of fully-fledged democracy, the so-called "electrocracy"
swept the country. The political and business elite isolated themselves from the
unwanted part of society. Other stratums became isolated despite their will,
mostly because of destitution.

Small layers of the elite privatized not only most of the public property,
but also huge chunks of state, justice and legal systems. Regional
"czars" adopted own constitutions and decrees.

For a certain time, the return to some sort of feudalism suited both the
government and business circles. However, even Yeltsin's entourage started to
realize that a "token" state that served only as a facade for the
enrichment of a small minority and ceased to perform the majority of its social
functions, was on the brink of a collapse.

The West played a certain role, as well. We were shown that the period of
"free democracy" had ended. The threat of communism disappeared, and
new Russia, with its half-criminal norms of economic and even political
behavior, had started to acquire the reputation of the potential threat for
western economy.

Question: But why Mr. Putin?

Answer: Vladimir Putin, if you want, had been initially chosen by the elite
itself. The "coronation" of Putin, if you forgive my metaphor, was
forced. The elite circles realized that they needed an outside force to control
the endless fight for power and property between the clans. That's why business
elite supported Vladimir Putin's actions against Boris Berezovski and Vladimir
Gusinski. When individual oligarchs openly dictate their will to power, the
strongest of them are those who are closest to the president. And that's always
dangerous not only for society, but also for them. There is no certainty about
the protection of their property not only because there is practically no notion
of state or laws, but also because the principle of self-rule is enforced:
everything could change in an instant. Mr. Yeltsin, under legally formal
democratic Constitution, could do anything he wanted. In a sense, Vladimir Putin
represented the fears and hopes of the far-sighted part of Russian business and
society concerned about self-preservation.

Question: According to March ratings, 60 percent of the population support
Mr. Putin. And that's in the county with an enormous amount of acute problems...

Answer: Apparently, people continue believing that without a strong leader
the situation in Russia would be much worse. On the other hand, in the eyes of
common citizens he took some steps in the right direction. Even more important
for Russian citizens is the fact that contrary to his predecessor, Mr. Putin
launched a direct dialogue with society and its non-governmental organizations.

However, Putin's tactics are always focused on a compromise. Governors and
presidents lost the right to participate in the Federation Council meetings, but
received other opportunities. Federal districts have been formed. At the time,
if you remember, many critics expressed fears that the rigid administrative
system, a sort of dictatorship would be revived. The emergence of
governor-generals was predicted...Two years have passed. No governor-generals
appeared on the political horizon. However, the basis for a federal system with
fewer subjects is being created, and in this case the political system is not
going to be reformed by drastic measures.

Another task was to diminish gradually the tyranny of oligarchs. The central
authorities sealed a sort of a pact with them: the government is not going to
revise the results of privatization, but oligarchs, in turn, must adopt legal
methods of conducting business.

Question: Many people expected Vladimir Putin to introduce strict and harsh
measures in order to establish order in the country. Why didn't he do it?

Answer: You are right, the level of corruption was extremely high. Mr. Putin
was urged on to take drastic measures. However, in this situation, the only
solution was to punish everybody or nobody. It's obvious that had he chosen the
"forceful" solution, he would have had to establish a real
dictatorship, instead of the so-called "dictatorship of the law". To
achieve any results without giving full authority to power structures is
unrealistic. At the same time, it's impossible in Russia today, because the
power structures are not ready, not capable and don't even want to take this
responsibility. The lessons of the end of the 1980's - beginning of 1990's are
not forgotten.

Question: With such deregulation of the entire state mechanism, what forces
could Mr. Putin rely upon?

Answer: Nowadays, any reformer - Putin or anybody else - must seek the
support of the state apparatus and power structures because civil society in
Russia is still not mature enough, and the multi-party system is still in the
embryonic state. Unfortunately, the above-mentioned supports are also in
desperate need of reforms. Big business is not in a rush to share with the rest
of society the part of resources seized from it, either. All of them are Putin's
allies only as long as he is ready to meet them halfway. Unfortunately, the
compromise has mostly lost its potential by now.